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: Inspired by the anatomy of the human ear, Scott de Martinville built a device that used a speaking cone and a vibrating pin to etch sound waves onto paper covered in soot.

: For 150 years, these recordings remained silent "visuals." In 2008, scientists used microscopic digital imaging to scan the soot-etched paper and play it back as audio. 0gsw399jaqwagfppmdgui_source-UIHJpu5z.mp4

He died in 1879, never knowing that his "visual text" would one day be heard by the world as the earliest recognizable recording of a human voice. The Unexpected Stories You Never Learned in School : Inspired by the anatomy of the human

: He never intended to "play back" the sound. Instead, he believed people could learn to "read" the visual squiggles of sound waves just like text. The Unexpected Stories You Never Learned in School

The video you referenced, The Unexpected Stories You Never Learned in School , features the fascinating story of , a French printer who invented the first sound recording device, the phonautograph, in 1857. The Man Who Recorded Sound Before Edison

: The recording revealed a haunting performance of the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune." Initially, researchers thought it was a woman or child, but later realized it was Scott de Martinville's own voice played at the correct speed.

While Thomas Edison is often credited with the first recording in 1877, Scott de Martinville ’s work predates him by 20 years.